Former Detroit mayor Kwame Kilpatrick makes his way in to federal court in Detroit on Monday, March 11, 2013. / Regina H. Boone/Detroit Free Press

Detroit Free Press Staff Writer

'Kilpatrick Enterprise' trial coverage

Former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, his father, Bernard Kilpatrick, and his longtime contractor friend Bobby Ferguson were convicted in U.S. District Court in Detroit. They were accused in a conspiracy to enrich themselves by rigging City of Detroit contracts through the mayor's office. Kwame Kilpatrick was convicted on 24 of 30 counts, Ferguson was found guilty on nine of 11 counts and Bernard Kilpatrick was convicted on one of four counts. A fourth defendant, former water department director Victor Mercado, pleaded guilty to conspiracy during the trial and awaits sentencing.

A federal judge has denied Kwame Kilpatrick’s requests for bond, ruling that the former Detroit mayor should remain locked up pending sentencing, because he has not proven that he can be trusted not to flee.

And as for Kilpatrick’s mother offering her home as collateral, U.S. District Judge Nancy Edmunds said the offer wouldn’t suffice and sided with the government, which fought to keep Kilpatrick locked up pending sentencing in the public corruption case.

“As the government correctly states … (Kilpatrick) fails to identify the value of the property or his mother’s equity in it. More important, however, the local rules for criminal cases in the Eastern District of Michigan, as well as this district’s longstanding custom and practice, explicitly disfavor the posting of real property as collateral for bond in criminal cases,” Edmunds wrote.

She added, “Furthermore, as the government established at the March 11 detention hearing, defendant Kwame Kilpatrick has demonstrated repeatedly that he accepted money from business leaders and family members, while at the same time lying to and misleading the courts about his assets and ignoring the direction of his probation and parole officers to report income and gifts. Despite (Kilpatrick’s) repeated argument that he has fully complied with the bond conditions set by this court … the evidence is to the contrary.”

According to Edmunds, one of the conditions for his bond is that Kilpatrick abide by all state parole conditions. But during his trial, she wrote, Kilpatrick violated his parole by failing to report gifts he had received, and as a result, spent the weekend in jail and was tethered.

She concluded: “The court finds that defendant Kwame Kilpatrick has not satisfied the burden of demonstrating by clear and convincing evidence that he is not a flight risk … As the government established at the detention hearing, defendant Kwame Kilpatrick has a history of lying to or misleading the courts, as well as his probation and parole officers, including lying about his assets.”

In a footnote in her seven page ruling, Edmunds also didn’t buy into Kilpatrick’s latest argument for release: that he has seriously injured his knee in prison and isn’t getting proper medical attention.

“Despite Defendant’s complaints, there is no indication that his injured knee cannot be properly treated while he remains in detention. Prisons address these sorts of medical issues all the time,” Edmunds wrote.

Kilpatrick’s lawyer, James Thomas, cited his injury in court documents on Tuesday, using it as one reason Kilpatrick should be released. Thomas also argued that Kilpatrick is broke and has no funds to flee, and, that his client is too high profile to be able to flee without someone recognizing him.

Today’s ruling means Kilpatrick will not be able to return to Texas to visit with his wife, Carlita, and their three sons. During the six-month-long trial, Kilpatrick’s wife and children came to Detroit just once for the case, during the defense’s closing arguments. Kilpatrick did fly home occasionally, but he lost that perk in January after Michigan parole officials learned he was hiding assets.

The transaction led to a parole violation and jail time because Kilpatrick never told parole officials about the cash, which could have been used to pay his restitution. Kilpatrick still owes more than $854,000 to the city of Detroit as part of a settlement he reached during the text-message scandal.

Kilpatrick and his co-defendant, Bobby Ferguson, have been detained in a federal prison in Milan since a jury convicted them on 34 counts combined for running a criminal enterprise through the mayor’s office to enrich themselves.

Ferguson also is fighting to be released, but the government is fighting to keep him locked up pending sentencing, which has not yet been scheduled.